TN parents received a message from an upset parent of a middle schooler in Dickson County, TN. It seems that some of the teachers at her child's school decided to instruct the students on how to take the Constructed Response Assessment (CRA). The students apparently did not do well on the subsequent practice test and the teachers sent home more practice questions for the kids to work on at home over the weekend. The teachers also sent home a letter along with the extra work and stated that the students will be given after-school detention if they do not answer the questions correctly.

TN Parents want you to hear directly from this mother and to see this letter. We want you to understand that our children are being punished because of the excessive focus on testing in our schools. Some children are punished by having their PE, related arts classes, and recess replaced by testing preparation. Some children are being punished by having their test scores publicly posted for their classmates to see. Some children are being punished by being told, again and again, how important the tests scores are--creating an undue level of anxiety that should never be forced on our children. And, in this situation, some kids are being punished by being put in detention for not performing well on practice standardized tests.

From this Dickson Co. mother: "This letter is weighing heavy on my mind today, especially the last paragraph. It comes across a little defensive on their part, and somewhat threatening to my child and myself. When the heck did school detention become a consequence for academic performance? I thought "detention" was for behavioral issues. Not for high-stakes practice and performance tests which already delivers a crazy amount of stress on CHILDREN. And we wonder where test anxiety comes from."

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Authors: real parents & real teachers from TN

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